Bio

Robert William Hoolhouse was born in 1916 and worked as a labourer, living on Pickering Street in Haverton Hill, County Durham. Several years before the murder, his family had worked and lived in a tenanted cottage on High Grange Farm in Wolviston, owned by Henry and Margaret Dobson. Following a dispute, the Hoolhouses were dismissed and evicted from the property and warned never to return, after which they relocated to a nearby area.

Murder Story

On Tuesday, January 18, 1938, Margaret Jane Dobson left High Grange Farm at about 4:30 p.m. Her husband, Henry Dobson, expected her to return later that evening. When she did not come back, he reportedly thought she may have stayed overnight at their daughter’s home in Newcastle.

The next morning, January 19, 1938, Henry Dobson found Margaret’s body near a farm track or field close to High Grange Farm. Later reports state that she had been sexually assaulted and stabbed. A legal book summary on the case states that she had been raped and stabbed twice.

Police soon focused on Robert William Hoolhouse. Investigators noted that he had scratches on his face, blood on his clothing, and a connection to the Dobson family through the earlier farm tenancy dispute. He also fit a general description of a man reported near the Dobson farm around the time of the killing.

Hoolhouse was taken into custody at about 1:15 a.m. on January 20, 1938. He was eventually charged with Margaret Dobson’s murder. Police considered his changed account of his timing on January 18 important because medical evidence was said to place Margaret’s time of death before 4:00 p.m. Hoolhouse first said he had arrived at Wolviston earlier, then later admitted that he may have left home about an hour later than he first stated.

The prosecution case was circumstantial. It relied on the alleged motive from the earlier eviction, Hoolhouse’s movements near Wolviston, the scratches on his face, bloodstains on his clothing, and the timing dispute in his alibi. The defence argued against the strength of that evidence. Later case summaries state that a footprint found near the body was admitted not to have been made by Hoolhouse.

Other evidence later became central to claims that the conviction may have been unsafe. Reports state that Margaret Dobson was wearing heavy woollen gloves when she was found, raising questions about whether she could have caused the scratches on Hoolhouse’s face. Hoolhouse reportedly explained blood on his clothing by saying that a boil had burst. Later summaries also state that no semen staining was found on the clothing he wore to the police station, although semen evidence was reportedly found on the victim.

There were also witness-timing issues. One account states that a witness named Percy Swales saw a man near the area where Margaret’s body was found at about 5:30 p.m., and that the man was not Hoolhouse. Another account states that two possible defence witnesses, Margaret Barker and Doris Teale, were not called at trial. Barker reportedly said she saw Hoolhouse on a bus after the time when Margaret was already dead and that he did not have scratches on his face. Teale reportedly said she saw Hoolhouse near his home at about the time he was alleged to have been killing Margaret.

Hoolhouse was tried at Leeds Assizes from March 28 to March 30, 1938, before Mr. Justice Wrottesley. The jury deliberated for about four hours before finding him guilty of murder. He was sentenced to death.

His appeal was dismissed on May 9, 1938. A petition reportedly gathered about 14,000 signatures, but it did not stop the execution. Later summaries also state that medical reports assessed Hoolhouse as having a mental age below 14, but this did not prevent the sentence from being carried out.

Robert William Hoolhouse was executed by hanging at Durham Gaol on May 26, 1938. British execution records list him as 21 years old, male, convicted of murder, and executed at Durham on that date.